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gregg edwards townsley

gregg edwards townsley

I gotta tell you, I’m excited about these new Tommy Valentine, PI, adventures–“Beach Body,” “Waimea Wiseguys,” “Monkey Punch” and Portland Weird.” There’s something about the Tommy and Babs characters that sets the muse moving. In this third story, the Penns Grove Private Investigators head back to Long Beach Island to investigate the curious death of a Barnegat Light man, washed up on the sand at Beach Haven. Our latest Kindle-only tale includes the usual on-location dining hints, a mad swipe at the Philly Mafia, and a humorous and fun description of liquor and life in West Jersey. “Waimea Wiseguys” is up next, and is expected to be available after our visit to Kauai in January. The remaining two will round out the first season of episodes in the Tommy Valentine series, and will be included in the first season’s anthology, tentatively entitled Monkey Business. You should see the book cover! The anthology will be available in paperback and Kindle versions sometime next spring. Here’s an excerpt of “Beach Body.” “She’s the computer of the house, and the brains between the two of us, because most of the time I’m simply the brawn, the fist in the gym bag so to speak, the mallet in the croquet kit, not that I play but you get the point…” The second in the series, “Jersey Tomato,” is available September 5. Read more…

The whole point of a first draft, someone recently posted on my Facebook page, is to see where the story is going. Subsequent drafts decide how to best tell the story. I’m a “pantser,” not a planner, when it comes to most of my writing. So I like that thought. Here’s a peek at my writing desk, where I’m approving galleys for Home Means Nevada, writing the next W. W. Ronin Western, Bathhouse Row, and finishing up the second of the Tommy Valentine, PI short stories, “Jersey Tomato.” This is the draft of the first of three chapters I’ve completed for the latter, set on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. 1 PENNS GROVE I’ve been asked if I’m Tommy Valentine, the golfer. Tommy was—emphasis on the word was—a Gainesville, Georgia man who spent maybe a dozen years on the pro golf circuit, before heading to Gross Pointe Woods, Michigan to coach rich guys how to play a game that’s wrecked a million marriages, and maybe saved a few, not that anyone’s saying. I wouldn’t know anything about the fellow if it wasn’t for my wife, who used to make it a point to keep up with the top-40 pro golf money makers in the late seventies and eighties. Gross Pointe Woods was the only one of the five Gross Pointe communities not to have a spot on Lake Saint Claire’s shoreline, though it has a park I’m told, which is not the same thing. Living in Gross Point Woods means you’re nowhere near the powerboat, sailing and yacht clubs that real Michigan money-makers enjoy, though I’m sure he did alright. Tommy was the Head Pro at the Lochmoor Club on Sunningdale Drive, prior to retiring in December of 2009. He died of cancer five years later, which argues that you should live your life now, goddamnit. Because before you know it you could end up a GOMER—an aged and practically lifeless guy or gal, sucking up someone else’s resources in a big city emergency room. The word is a cruelty, to be sure—healthcare is like that—but when an ER doc pastes the acronym to your personality, she means just that. Read more…

The old door shook. It wasn’t his intent to harm anything. Fact is, the once-reverend W. W. Ronin wouldn’t think of making light of the buildings that had given him succor over the years—initially in Greensboro, Pennsylvania where he was in training, and later in Wichita, Kansas as the second rector of the St. John’s Episcopal Church, when it was still made out of logs and situated between the confluence of two sometimes over-flowing rivers. There was still something sacred about religious places, even if he didn’t embrace the faith they sometimes contained. The church wasn’t just about “the people,” as he used to say while preaching, one hand on the lectionary, the other searching for a Bible in the event his people asked an unexpected question or two over the meal that many times followed services. Church was the building, too, though he didn’t understand that at the time. He lifted his knee up to his chest and pushed again, the bottom of his foot—the ball, actually, not the heel as it dissipated too much force to use his boot that way—and the old wooden doors, crafted from pine planks harvested in the Sierra mountains, just up the Kings Canyon toll road he figured not that it mattered, splintered into pieces like the old man’s leg caught under the wheel of an errant coach from Benton’s Livery on Carson Street last week. The door swung back and forth, its lock shattered, shards of it rolling lifelessly across the entry way of the building, erected in 1861, before Nevada was even a state. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain’s) brother, Orion and his wife Molly attended there, though Clemens was now dead, having died a year ago, about the same time he began to wonder if there was anything real at all to the Protestant convictions he once proffered as an Episcopal priest on the American frontier. He dumped the shorter of his two Colt handguns over the back of his holster, until it was level, and then slowly extended it forward into the midnight darkness of Nevada’s oldest sanctuary, as long as you didn’t count the Mormon meeting place in Genoa, or the Catholic church which was actually finished before the Presbyterians were, though the Calvinists had started earlier but ran out of money. Read more…

“What’s purple and lives at the bottom of the ocean?” “You tell me,” I said, from behind the wheel of a 15-passenger van filled with elementary school children, from our martial arts business in Hillsboro. “Moby Grape,” he replied, laughing in the way only a pre-teen youngster can. The sorry excuse for a joke—kids say the darnedest things, don’t they?—comes to mind whenever I think of “Water Babies,” the mythical creatures talked about by an earlier generation of Washoe Indians. Best that anyone can say, Washoe Water Babies tales predate the crazy corps of white Americans who crowded into northern Nevada when silver was first discovered in 1859. The story is a familiar one, if you’re at all acquainted with Nevada history. As the Comstock began to explode, the Washoe’s claim to the area began to implode. By 1863, most people say the tribe(s) were driven from their land, the forests from Virginia City and its environs all the way to Lake Tahoe were clear-cut, and traditional migration patterns—simply pictured, to Lake Tahoe in the summer for fishing, to the Pine Nut Mountains east of there for the fall harvest of nuts, and the valleys in-between so as to winter warmly into the spring—were made difficult, at best. The impact on the Washoe culture was terminal, so much so that by 1866, Indian agents in Reno believed the tribe faced imminent destruction and no government provision was made for the tribe’s future. Fast forward 150-some years. The Washoe have persevered. And despite significant challenges, which are beyond the scope of this simple blog entry—the Washoe people have formed tribal governments, regained control of (some) tribal lands and are busy, even to this day, actively building and teaching about their culture. In some small way, I hope my novels—set in northern Nevada, in the 1880s and forward—contribute to our understanding of this important community which, by some estimates, dates to more than 9,000 years ago. But I want to talk about Water Babies, because you’ll see them pop up, as it were, in some of my books. At the beginning of Lady of the Lake, for instance. “Did you see them?” the voice asked. Ronin looked left and right, but not before he placed his right hand on the black buffalo-horn handled Colt sitting cross-draw at his waist. “Jesus Christ,” he murmured. Read more…

Five local authors packed the house at the Three Mugs Brewing Company on Saturday, March 28, 2015. And a kindly patron / fan bought me a beer! The third in a series of author events begun by local publishing guru Jason Brick, the evening event competed with spring break plans for many in the greater Hillsboro area. But a good time, and a packed house, was enjoyed by all. A fourth event is being planned for this summer. (Photo attributions include: Bob McKee, Jessica Smith, Nancy Townsley and James Wakeman. Read more…

Meet author Linda Pendleton, author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books, and the wife of the late action-adventure writer, Don Pendleton. Gregg: Linda, thanks for being the first of our interviews on The Writers Edge. You’re an accomplished artist and writer, and a businesswoman too, judging by what I see online. Your books, websites, your late husband’s books and the possibility of a few movies — can I ask you what motivates you to create? Is it the muse or the mortgage? Linda: I write because I love to write and have a desire to satisfy my creative drive. I enjoy the inspirational flow and passion I feel as my creativity is expressed on the written page, and I enjoy sharing it. I have been told that some of my readers have found my nonfiction writing to be not only inspirational, but healing and comforting. As a writer, that is always so nice to hear and it warms the heart. A writer has to be a business person as well as a writer. Writing is only part of the game. In the past, it was finding agents, publishers, and wasting a lot of time. I now self-publish, thanks to Amazon Kindle and Createspace. But I also have my husband’s body of work to manage, in addition to ours, and my own. So a writer’s work is not done when he or she writes “The End.” Gregg: I enjoyed your book, A Walk Through Grief: Crossing the Bridge Between Worlds. In it, you talk about your writing partnership with your late husband, Don Pendleton. His obituary in the Los Angeles Times noted that Don’s 38 Executioner novels had sold more than 25 million copies around the world. Wow! I know there was some back and forth between the two of you about women’s and men’s points of view. What’s the difference? Linda: Yes, Don was considered the “father of the action/adventure genre,” with his publication of his original The Executioner: Mack Bolan Series, beginning in 1969 with War Against the Mafia. In 1980, Don franchised the Mack Bolan characters to Harlequin and about 900 books have been written by other writers. Don’s original 37 Executioner novels were released in December as ebooks, for the first time, by Open Road Media. His Executioner books had female fans as well as male. Read more…

This will be a banner year for me. Two Bears Books will publish three more Westerns—Home Means Nevada, Bathhouse Row and The Mountain Is Easy. The publication of Home Means Nevada finishes the core books in the W. W. Ronin Western series, introducing the characters and establishing the history and time period. The first five books are written as an easy to read “third person” narrative, placed in 1880s Lake Tahoe, Reno, Virginia City and Carson City, Nevada. About book five: When Genoa farmer Orrin Hickman decides to resurrect the Mormon militia group the Danites to settle some long-standing accounts, an old curse threatens fire and floods on the people of northern Nevada. Ex-priest and Pinkerton Detective, W. W. Ronin finds his heart broken and his hands full and guns blazing as a returning husband complicates his personal life and prison-breaking felons join the “rising tide” of Latter Day Saint hit men in the fifth of the W. W. Ronin adventures, Home Means Nevada. Home Means Nevada defines place-based fiction, where real people and real places become the setting for hauntingly real human adventures. Home Means Nevada takes place in Carson City, Genoa and Gardnerville, Nevada, and tells the true story of what happens when religious dreams meet present-day realities among Nevada’s earliest settlers. A full-length piece of historical fiction, Home Means Nevada should be available in April. Bathhouse Row re-launches the W. W. Ronin epic. Written in a more active style, “darker and deadlier than ever,” my beta-readers say you’ll love Bathhouse Row! I’ve set the “first person” tale of murder and intrigue amidst four well-known northern Nevada hot springs—Steamboat, Carson, Genoa (Wally’s) and Markleeville (Grover’s). The book is out-of-sequence, moving the adventures to 1889, has all new historical content and will be available late summer. The Mountain Is Easy pretends to be a long lost W. W. Ronin journal, recently found under my bed, dating to 1901. Ronin, settled down at Lake Tahoe, having just turned fifty. Be prepared to find out what happened to some of the series’ regulars as Ronin considers retirement… You can download the first six chapters of The Mountain Is Easy by simply signing-up for this site’s newsletter. I’ll send it to you FREE, as a PDF file. You’ll be surprised to hear that I have a 21st century detective novella in the works, too. Read more…

I’d love to think that my performance in this video of a World Fast Draw championship in Watkins, Colorado, was fast. Fact is, world-class shooters–of which I am not–regularly draw and fire in under 3/10s of a second. I only occasionally get there. But the video shows some of the understanding I have, and the research I do, when writing the W. W. Ronin series of Westerns. I own the weapon or have fired it. I’ve been to the mountain, lake or pass I’m writing about. I’ve thrown the kick, or punched the punch, or shared that kind of dialogue in a real church setting. I’m not boasting, I’m just saying. If you’re going to spend your hard-earned dollars on fiction of any sort–historical fiction included, which is what I like to write–do it on a book you can enjoy and with an author you can trust. Thank you for considering some of mine. Read more…

Gregg Edwards Townsley is a reflective, free-thinking ex-pastor, martial artist, writer and Western Fast Draw enthusiast living in St. Helens, Oregon. No stranger to the places his Western characters inhabit–Reno, Carson City, Virginia City and Lake Tahoe–he raised his children in northern Nevada, from 1984 through 1993, while serving as pastor and head of staff of the First Presbyterian Church in Carson City. Prior to living in Nevada, he made his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Penns Grove, New Jersey, “a veritable fountain,” he says, of people and places he likes to visit in his Tommy Valentine, PI series of short stories. Townsley is a member of the Western Writers of America. His wife, Nancy, is also a writer and the managing editor of the Hillsboro Tribune and Forest Grove News Times. Read more…

I think the term is “social proof.” It’s the currency of on-line marketing nowadays. When my wife and I owned martial arts studios in Hillsboro and Sherwood, it was the difference between my saying something about our program and someone else saying the same thing. For instance, with a financial partner and another martial arts friend, Nancy and I set-up Oregon’s first transported after-school martial arts program. We had a couple of 15-passenger vans–a friend of mine recently called them “death traps”–a 3,000 square foot studio near a well known restaurant and highway, and lots of experience and talent in programming for children and youth. We ran 14 weeks of summer camp the first year, in addition to the usual martial arts classes for children, youth and adults. During the school year, we picked up kids from a dozen or more Washington County elementary and middle schools, keeping everyone busy and safe until parents finished up at work. A person has to have a little bit of skill to do that sort of thing. But telling you that wouldn’t persuade you to hand me $400-500 a month, would it? Not if I asked you to sign a contract, right? That’s where “social proof” comes in. A couple of letters, maybe a video or two of parents swearing that we hadn’t damaged their children, and a razzle-dazzle website of studio pictures that screams “you or your child can be the next Bruce Lee” puts it all together. Or helps to. I’m writing about social proof on an author site because you need to know that Two Bears Books isn’t selling you the usual pablum of insipid intellectual and entertainment fare many Westerns are made of. I’ve been to most of these places (see the real Bucket of Blood Saloon above). I’ve lived in some of the places I write about. I’ve shot the guns, thrown the punches and weathered the sometimes complex relationships my characters find themselves in. Have I told you that well-known Western author, Louis L’Amour, once wasted two-hours of my life? Not that I knew him of course, and I appreciate Louis L’Amour’s Westerns as much as the next guy. But in one of his books, L’Amour placed cold beer on the Comstock (the gold and silver strikes in Nevada) in a time and place cold beer wasn’t. And the editor of my first book caught me parroting that less-than-fact. I’m just saying, a reader has to be careful nowadays. Read more…

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A thoughtful afterward is a good reminder of just how much research Townsley does to write his novels. I’m drawn into the fiction and learn from the historical about the areas in which I grew up, yet one does not need to be a Nevadan nor a Westerner to smile while reading Townsley’s deep character development. My fear is that Ronin will settle down (again, no spoilers!) because I’m not ready for his adventures to come to an end. The world needs this thoughtful good guy who realizes even bad guys have stories. - Yukon Joe, Cornelius, OR
I read a lot of women's fiction, generally for story and character development, and I took the story East Jesus, Nevada to be rich in both. Ronin is a likable character who learns a thing or two along the way. And what fun dialogue to boot! What surprised me the most about this book, however, is how immersed I was in the old west world the author created. He really paid attention to detail. I felt like I was right there with the characters, sharing in their adventures. Since I'm from Nevada originally, this story took on extra meaning for me... - April Aasheim, author of The Universe Is a Very Big Place and the Witches of Darkroot series
Gregg Townsley writes about things he understands. The history and geography of Nevada, fast guns and fast action. I highly recommend his books! - Jon "Trickshot" Wilson, shooting coach for the TV show Top Shot (2010) and World Fast Draw Association champion 2004, 2011 and 2012
All the while I was reading Lady of the Lake I heard the late Sam Peckinpah's distant ghost-voice imploring, "Goddammit, Lord, send me back down there for one last movie...Gregg Townsley writes violent scenes the way Peckinpah films them, bringing us so close to the action we see it break into detailed increments. It enables us as readers to sail virtually with ex-Episcopalian priest-cum-bounty hunter W.W. Ronin over the head of his horse onto a sandy path, breaking his/our fall with a trained tumble that starts with a hand, then rolls to a forearm and finally to a shoulder before we're on our feet dashing into a tree-line. Townsley brings off a visceral authenticity in this opening scene and subsequent descriptions of fights with fists, knives, clubs and guns with a perfect marriage of writing craft and the authority of knowing what he's talking about." - Mathew Paust, author of Executive Pink, Sacrifice and If the Woodsman Is Late
I love the historical setting and detail, the pace of the story, the character shadings, and even the almost hidden lessons in geography, theology and sociology. his is a first rate western by any and all standards. The hero shoots straight (and often), the side - kicks entertain and comes through when most needed, the warm-hearted gal remains disconcerting on the hero's mind, and there is a "made for the movies" action sequence that beats any horse chase you ever read or saw. - Jeff Barton, Iowa City, IA
Having spent a few years living in Lake Tahoe I found this book a joy. I knew there was quite a history of the area but never was exposed to much of it. I was transported back one hundred and fifty years to my old stopping grounds. What a treat. - Kirk Larson, Forest Grove, OR
Wow, Having been to the places in this book made it even more interesting. The story was well written and takes the reader on an adventure through times long past. This was a great follow up on the life and times of the subjects form East Jesus Nevada, the first book of the series. I will look forward to the next book. - Lee Kiger, Tigard, OR
"Most things said and done, I try to fix things, to make them right. And if there's a dollar or two to be made along the way, I try to pick it up." Townsley is really finding his stride…The prose is a fine balance between pulpy fun and elegant wordsmithing, at its best reminding me of later Spenser novels. The story and characters are the most vibrant so far. Though the overall story is true to the genre, he throws in surprises in how the twists and turns get handled…Definitely worth the money and time invested in this latter-day western. - Jason Brick, author of Mastering the Business of Writing, The 9 Habits of Highly Profitable Writing and Train Wreck: The Farcas Foxtrots
True Believer is a delicious cook pot of murder, intrigue, vice and virtue beautifully crafted by Townsley with a touch as light as a Paiute Indian scout's footfalls. - Shaun Mullen, former editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, author of The Bottom of the Fox and There's a House in the Land
I haven't read a western in years (maybe decades). The style of writing in the old westerns was too slow for my modern taste, and the plot too predictable. East Jesus, Nevada is a fast-moving, intriguing, old west story brought to life by Gregg's Townsley's modern style of writing. - Phil Stramel, Long Beach, CA
A great ride, if you'll pardon the irreverent reference! The characters are believable and the situations based on historical lore and fact. I'm looking forward to The Lady of the Lake and any future endeavors by Mr. Townsley. "Please. sir, may I have another?" - Casino Fossel, Boise, ID
A great book with believable characters. If you are tired of the cookie cutter westerns then this is the book for you. Characters that are real, situations that are believable and a main character that has all the flaws just like the rest of us.
- SJM, Vancouver, Canada
With a wonderful blend and mix of dialogue and fun...Well-written and wonderful characters top off the book, with WW Ronin definitely standing out as my favorite. Woot! - Holly Hunt, author of The Devil’s Wife, Blood Moon, Tryant of Tarsit, Scale and Leather
Gregg Edwards Townsley knows Nevada like no one else. His latest installment of the adventures of W. W. Ronin is his best work yet. Captivating and engaging from cover to cover...superb writing about one of America's greatest eras. - Tom Bleecker, Hollywood screenwriter, publisher, and author of The Bruce lee Story, Unsettled Matters, The Journey, The Jet and Jolanta.
Home Means Nevada is a Western told in the skillful manner of the old masters like Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Townsley is a master wordsmith and his work comes alive with action and suspense. - W. R. Benton, best-selling Western novelist, author of War Paint, Missouri in Flames, mountain Man Justice, and the Fall of America series.
The W. W. Ronin Western series brings a fresh perspective to historical fiction, blending adventure with colorful facts of Nevada and northern California during the 1880s. - Linda Pendleton, author of Deadly Flare-Up, The Catherine Winter Private Investigator series, A Walk Through Death, and with her late husband, adventure writer Don Pendleton, The Metaphysics of the Novel: the Inner Workings of a Novel and a Novelist
A Western novel with the twists, turns and pathos of fine noir detective fare. Home Means Nevada demonstrates Townsley's knowledge and love of Nevada, firearms, moral quandaries and the questions that drive all men to chase their dreams and demons to every corner of the world. His best work so far. - Jason Brick, author of Mastering the Business of Writing, The Nine Habits of highly Profitable Writing, Astoria: Your Guidebook for Oregon's Gateway to the Pacific, and the Farcas Foxtrot series
Tommy's a man of few words when he's working, but when he's telling us all about it...imagine Sam Spade or Mike Hammer on amphetamines--a fistful of amphetamines--and you've got the picture. "Jersey Tomato" is a ride down literary rapids in a jet-propelled kayak. I laughed all the way. "Hell," as Tommy V. would say, "I'm still laughing." - Matthew Paust, author of First Shot, Nature of the Bones, and When the Songbirds Went Silent in Cheerytown.
Gregg Townsley nails the murder-mystery genre with a strong and compelling action and humor-filled narrative. Townsley's writng is remarkably consistent, with lively dialogue and clever banter between private investigator Valentine and his sassy, saucy, but tough wife, Babs. Fast-paced and sharp - D. C. Jesse Burkhardt, author of Travelogue From an Unruly Youth and The Crowbar Hotel.
This short tale of murder and mayhem on holiday is my favorite work of an increasingly prolific talent...A must for fans of noir and of gonzo tales by the likes of Lansdale and Hiassen. - Jason Brick, "That Writer Guy," and the author of Mastering the Business of Writing, The Nine Habits of Highly Profitable Writing and the Farkas Foxtrot series.
You are a regular Andrew Lloyd Webber in the literary world. You just keep cranking out the hits. - Gail McMullen Marinelli, Howard County Public Schools